Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper caught lying again. (Not the first time.)
If we ever want to put an end to the parade of lies the public (and Congress!) have been subjected to on surveillance, the only way to do it is to take some scalps. By undermining the democracy he thinks he is protecting, Mr. Clapper, however patriotic his motives, has made a good claim to be at the head of the line.
I agree, but it won’t happen. NOBODY in Congress, being the people they are, will ever want his or her vote on ANYTHING that will be used by an opponent in an election to show they (apparently) love the terrorists. Congress has given a silent free pass to the NSA to do anything it wants, so long as it can keep people from finding out about it (which is the only reason there is displeasure shown toward NSA now).
That’s just the sad fact of it all.
Unfortunately, I believe the first poster is correct. However, we should impeach & prosecute not just Clappper, but also all members of both select committees on intelligence, President Bush, and President Obama. I think it would be very easy to make the argument the introduction of the backdoors is “facilitating a criminal enterprise”, sine there is no way to prevent such and those named above knew (or should have known) this tidbit.